Happy!!

Hi Family!!!

Wow, it’s so strange to me that another Monday has come. This week seemed to be faster than most. Maybe because I was out of my sector a lot. Maybe because it’s the last week of the transfer and we’re going crazy with all of the things we have to do. Either way... it was a good week. Lots better than the last. Lots of blessings.

First of all... yep. There was another earthquake here this week. Two actually. I’m starting to hear that it might be a thing for a while... that there might be lots of replicas. But I think they are getting smaller. That’s the good news. The first was in the middle of the night on Tuesday. I actually was sleeping in the house of another Hermana, Hermana Walker, and yes, we definitely felt it. I first opened my eyes and figured I was dreaming because we’re not always completely awake and coherent, but then when the windows started shaking and gates below us started banging, I realized that it was real. We didn’t really know what to do, so we just sat up in our beds, half laughing, half really nervous for the people in the coast, half thinking we were going to die because we were on the third floor and the building was literally swinging back and forth... but we lived and all went well. There was another one later that day while we were planning. The funny thing is that people still run out of their houses screaming each time there’s movement. It’s sure exciting to be here for all of it :)

Me and Hermana Walker

Like I said, this week I feel like I was barely in my sector. I love getting to visit other sectors and getting to know other Hermanas and investigators. The sad part is that when I come back, I feel like I don’t know what’s going on with OUR sector. I got to go back to Cumbaya again and we went up to the church at night for one of the meetings that the missionaries had. Oh man, it was sooo fun to see like half of my old ward. I especially loved talking to the mom of one of the American families there. We both were starting our life in Ecuador at the same time, so we got to be close... I think because we could relate so well with what each other was going through, with Spanish, missing family, being in a culture completely different, etc. It’s good to see that now with 10 months under our belts both of us agreed that life is a lot easier, communicating, eating the food. It’s cool to see the same growth that I’ve had in another person.

On Thursday this week in our district meeting we had a cool lesson.. and a touching experience about sharing the gospel. Our district leader has us all think of someone from home that we wanted to get baptized or return to church. Someone that we love. Someone that means a lot to us. After a few minutes of silence, he had us come up to the board, write down the name of the person we were thinking, explain their situation, and what it would mean to us if they were faithful in the church. It was so touching to see as we went up one by one... most people wrote the name of a close family member. Their mom, brother, dad... and almost every single one explained how they would give anything to see them in the church and happy through tears and tears and tears. Being on a mission has given me such a clear reason of why I am here and how important the gospel is in my life. That’s what a mission does for us. I was really impacted to see the emotion of so many people in my district and started to think about how hard it is for the Lord to see US when we stray from the path. I realized how blessed I am to have such a strong and great family in the church. I also know though that we’re not immune to temptation or weakness, and because of that, I want to do everything I can to share what I know with those I love. Thank you guys for your great example and encouragement. I know that our greatest gift to the Lord is our obedience and conversion to the gospel.

This week we’ve been contacting like crazy. I’ve found something lately that just makes me so happy (like I would say Pinterest, or football or a good smoothie at home:)), and that is contacting families. I don’t know what it is, but when we talk to them, get to know them and they say that we can visit their house, it is one of the happiest feelings for me. This week we found two new families that have a baptismal date, and man, I just hope so badly that they can progress. It was sure a blessing in these last few days.

We also have an investigator, Silvia, who’s preparing for her baptism this Saturday. She’s been listening to the missionaries for quite awhile now, and finally decided that she wanted to get baptized. So excited for Saturday.. she’s super ready :)

A funny thing that happened... Since we have so many intercambios, we’re in bus stations a lot. One day we were walking through the station to find our bus, talking about how bad it would be if someone got hit, when all of the sudden a bus honked super loud.. we looked up, saw a bus zooming towards us and we screamed and all ran in different directions, barely avoiding a bad scene. Really.. it was a close call, but we were sure laughing hard.

This month of May our mission is doing something special... kind of like the Fe de Febrero that we did 3 months ago. We each pick an attribute of Christ that we want to develop, set goals, make sacrifices, and see the blessings. I picked patience... it’s something I can always get better at, and have seen something very interesting. As I’ve been praying each day to be able to strengthen my patience, I have seen that the Lord hasn’t just strengthened me, but given me many OPPORTUNITIES to choose to be patient. For example... my last week. It hit me today as we were studying that the Lord is really answering my prayer... just in a different way than I expected. But he’s answering it because my patience is growing. I love a quote from President Monson that says...

"Life is full of difficulties, some minor and others of a more serious nature. There seems to be an unending supply of challenges for one and all. Our problem is that we often expect instantaneous solutions to such challenges, forgetting that frequently the heavenly virtue of patience is required."

So so true. I love that. 

Thank you all for your support and love. Have a fantastic week!!!!

Hermana Yorgason